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Sen. Johnson: Allow Insurance Denial For Cancer (Video)

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said on June 28 that businesses should not be required to provide health insurance coverage for employees who have cancer and other ailments (video below).

ThinkProgress reporter Scott Keyes asked Johnson outside the U.S. Supreme Court: "I know [Republican Senate nominee] Richard Mourdock [of Indiana] had said even though businesses should give people, for instance, with cancer, health coverage, they shouldn’t be legally required by the federal government."

Johnson agreed that businesses should not be required to provide coverage for certain conditions:

They shouldn’t. Listen, our rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And when we start expanding beyond that realm, when you create a right for somebody, you create an obligation for somebody else, and then you’re taking away that person’s right. And that maybe doesn’t seem all that great, but it’s just true. Our nation was based on the foundation of freedom and limited government. This takes this country in the absolutely wrong direction, so keep your fingers crossed that [the Affordable Care Act] is repealed.

Johnson was upset in June when Texas' efforts to limit the rights of women to obtain legal abortions were shut down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Johnson insisted the people of Texas wanted these restrictive government laws, which they did not directly vote on.

"It’s another example of unelected judges on the Supreme Court overruling the will of the people expressed through their elected representatives; I’ve got a real problem with that,” Johnson told WEAU in June.

Mourdock told News and Tribune that employers should not have to provide health insurance for medical care, and illustrated his point with an employer choosing not to cover cancer:

Does that employer have the right to do it? I would say yes they do if they want to keep their health care costs down but it also means it’s less likely you’re going to want to work here. If that employer wants to get the best employees coming in the door he’s going to offer the best insurance possible.